The Present and Future Asymmetry of Consumer Genetic Testing

January 2, 2018

(Undark Magazine) – The question looming over this exploding marketplace, of course, is whether consumer protections can keep up — and more pointedly, what fair, effective protections would even look like. There’s a basic asymmetry at work in genetic testing: it takes just a few minutes to put some spit into a vial, sign a few disclosure forms, and pop your saliva in the mail. But that little bit of spit can yield volumes of deeply intimate data about your body. As Undark has reported in the past, that information can last for decades. It can be subpoenaed in court. It can be stolen. And it can be bundled and sold as a commodity.